The Serbian Chamber of Commerce (PKS) will continue activities aimed at making the implementation of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) more efficient, PKS chairman Milos Bugarin said, adding that Serbia had defined the main priorities of its CEFTA presidency this year.

At the Belgrade CEFTA forum, Bugarin specified that four main priorities were defined for Serbian CEFTA presidency this year.

He said that those were the potential opening of negotiations on liberalization in the sphere of services, creation of equal conditions for investments, opening of the public procurement market and achieving competitiveness and harmonized trade liberalization.

Bugarin noted that one of the ways to combat economic crisis was a greater and better economic cooperation in the region, stressing that the CEFTA agreement envisaged the creation of a free trade zone by the end of 2010.

He also said that the unfreezing of the interim trade agreement between Serbia and the European Union from the beginning of 2010 would be of great significance for the Serbian economy.

Bugarin recalled that Serbia exported more than 30 per cent of its total exports to the countries of the region and that it had an exchange surplus with all countries in the region, with the exception of Croatia and Moldova.

"In the course of 2009 there has been a strong decline in the exchange of goods with CEFTA countries. The exports to the region in 2009 totalled 2.7bn dollars and they dropped 27 per cent in comparison with the same period of the previous year," he said.

Bugarin added that the consistent implementation of the CEFTA agreement, duty-free trade and harmonization of business environment in line with World Trade Organization rules and European standards would contribute to increasing production and trade as well as employment.

A state secretary in the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, Vesna Arsic, stressed that the Serbian presidency came in a year in which the negative effects of the global economic crisis were still pronounced.

She added that it was therefore very important to use the regional level of cooperation to its maximum.

Source: , Belgrade, in Serbian 1133 gmt 12 Feb 10